Seth Godin metaphorically examines popcorn’s assets and liabilities in this post. As in image versus profitability.

Seth’s points are that 1) whether you’re a popcorn person or not, you are likely to sample it whenever it’s put in front of you and 2) this is not necessarily a good thing since popcorn is not inherently a lucrative commodity.

Twisting the topic a tad, what about people that can’t get enough popcorn, like me?

If your services are so compelling that people can’t get enough, or if they salivate at the mere thought of them, is that too much of a good thing? Perhaps if you offer services of a personal nature, you’d be delighted to have this perception and response to your product.

Think about it: overnight success with your target market, your phone ringing off the hook, you’re the IT company. Could you handle that kind of fame? Would you even want it once you cultivated it?

One other take: my house is old enough that I have one room left from which I haven’t removed the yukky popcorn ceiling. That ugly stuff was so cheap to spray in that new home construction and remodels done in the late sixties and seventies were full of it.

Cheap, ubiquitous, tough to get rid of. Now, THAT is not the reputation you want to create for your product or services!